2023-05-15 15:15:42
The boss of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on Monday called “laughable” press reports that he had offered information on Russian troop positions to Ukrainian intelligence services. THE Washington Post reported on Sunday that Yevgeny Prigozhin has repeatedly offered Ukrainian intelligence to provide him with information on the location of Russian army units, in exchange for the withdrawal of Kyiv forces from the eastern city of Bakhmut of Ukraine where his men are fighting a fierce battle.
An offer rejected by kyiv
The American daily says it is relying on documents from the American secret services that leaked last April. They do not, however, specify which Russian troop positions Prigozhin offered to disclose. According to his information, a Ukrainian official also confirmed that the head of Wagner repeated his offer, but that kyiv rejected it for lack of confidence.
Still according to the newspaper, Yevgueni Prigojine would also have testified to a Ukrainian intelligence officer about the lack of ammunition delivered by Moscow. He would also have advised the Ukrainian forces to carry out an attack on the borders of Crimea, territory annexed by Russia.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, questioned by the Washington Post, did not confirm the contacts between Prigojine and the Ukrainian services. “It’s a matter of information. [militaire] “, he swept.
“Laughable” accusations
These claims, which cannot be independently verified, come at a time when Prigozhin and the Russian general staff are at loggerheads amid rivalries within Moscow’s forces over the conflict in Ukraine. “It seems that I am fighting for Russia, but at the same time (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky is following my instructions. So the left hand is at war with the right hand, ”he reacted ironically on Monday. “Laughable”, he swept again, in an audio message published on Telegram by his press service.
Yevgeny Prigojine notably claimed that he had “not been to Africa since the beginning” of the conflict in Ukraine, in response to claims by the Washington Post that the boss of Wagner had met with members of the Ukrainian intelligence services in a unnamed African country.
Wagner’s boss believed that members of Russia’s elite could be behind the accusations. “They’re trying to dump as much shit on me as possible,” he said fiercely, in his usual flowery language. Asked by the press, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the information published by the Washington Post as “brainwashing”.
Evgueni Prigojine has publicly criticized the Russian general staff for several months, accusing it of not providing its Wagner fighters with the necessary ammunition to allow them to take Bakhmout, where they are on the front line. These criticisms have become even more violent in recent days, with the boss of Wagner insulting in videos the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, and the Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu.
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